The present invention relates to a method and system by which color of hair is simulated on the hair area of a subject over an image of the subject in order to find what color the subject desires, and identify the hair dye needed to obtain the color.
Hair dyes and bleach are used to make gray hairs less conspicuous or to dye hair a desired color as a dressing up means. Hair dyes include temporary dyes (color shampoo, color conditioner, color treatment conditioner, etc.) that are easy to apply but the dyed hair retain the color for a short time, semi-permanent dyes (hair manicure, clear-type hair manicure, etc.) that provide a dye effect that can be continuously maintained through penetration of an acidic dye into the interior of the hair, and permanent dyes that achieve an essentially permanent dye effect through oxidation polymerization of the dye in the interior of the hair, and a particular type of hair dye is selected depending on the intended use.
Each of these types of dyes is prepared in numerous color numbers, and each color of dyes is shown by means of printing on the box containing the dye, or by means of sample tresses of dyed hair.
Incidentally, the color of the hair after dyeing is not determined solely by the inherent color of the dye, but affected by the color of the hair before it is dyed. Therefore, even where the same color dye is used, the color of the hair after dyeing differs considerably depending on whether the hair is black, brown or gray before dyeing. In addition, where the same color dye is used, the hair color after dyeing also differs depending on whether the hair is being dyed for the first time using the dye, or whether the hair is being dyed again after the color from a previous dyeing has faded.
Consequently, it is difficult to predict the color that will result from dyeing any person""s hair solely from the printing on the box or the sample tresses, and the problem arises that the actual color of the hair after dyeing is different from the color anticipated.
Furthermore, hair dyeing not only changes the color of the hair, but significantly affects the overall appearance of the person whose hair is being dyed. Moreover, it is even more difficult to predict the person""s overall appearance after the hair is dyed than it is to predict the color of the person""s hair after dyed. As a result, even where the hair color itself turns out as expected, the person may still be displeased with their overall appearance after the dyeing is performed.
An object of the present invention is to accurately suggest the appropriate hair dye to change a person""s hair color to the desired color, and to confirm the person""s overall appearance after the hair was dyed into the desired color.
The inventors have discovered that, in order to attain this object, it is effective to (1) input the image of the subject (a person) into a memory means of a computer, simulate on a monitor (display screen) the hair color on only the hair area of the input image, and show the simulated image to the subject so that the subject may confirm his or her overall appearance after dyeing, as well as to (2) output the name of the hair dye needed to dye the subject""s hair into the same color as the hair color of the simulated image, based on a database that describes references between hair dyes and hair colors before and after dyeing therewith.
The present invention provides a hair color advice system comprising (i) an image memory means into which image data regarding the subject is input and stored, (ii) a processing means that finds the hair area in the input image of the subject and builds a simulated image in which the color of the hair area is changed to any color, and (iii) a monitor (display screen) on which the input image of the subject and/or the simulated image are displayed.
The present invention also provides a hair color advice method (see FIG. 8) comprising (i) a step in which the image data of the subject is input to the image memory means (S800), (ii) a step in which the processing means finds the hair area in the input image of the subject (S802) and builds a simulated image in which the color of the hair area is changed to any color (S804), and (iii) a step in which the input image of the subject and/or the simulated image are displayed on the monitor (display screen) (S806).
In the present invention, the hair dye includes (i) permanent dyes, (ii) semi-permanent dyes such as hair manicures, (iii) temporary dyes such as hair foams, shampoos, conditioners, treatment conditioners, etc. containing coloring agents, and (iv) bleaches, and the hair dyeing includes (i) changing the hair color by means of a hair dye and (ii) bleaching the color of the hair by means of a bleaching agent.